Welcome to Hyperion Records, an independent British classical label devoted to presenting high-quality recordings of music of all styles and from all periods from the twelfth century to the twenty-first.

Hyperion offers both CDs, and downloads in a number of formats. The site is also available in several languages.

Please use the dropdown buttons to set your preferred options, or use the checkbox to accept the defaults.

Don't show me this message again

Fantasie und Fuge über das Thema B-A-C-H, S529ii

Introduction

If the Sonata was Liszt’s attempt to address the legacy of Beethoven, then the Fantasie und Fuge über das Thema B-A-C-H was a homage to another great German master, Johann Sebastian Bach. The piece was, appropriately enough, originally written for organ, specifically for the consecration of the new instrument in Merseburg Cathedral in 1856. A revised version for piano—heard in the present recording—was made in 1870. Bach had himself sometimes used the letters of his name as a musical theme. ‘B’ signifies B flat in German notation, and ‘H’ represents B natural, resulting in the short chromatic figure B flat-A-C-B natural. This Liszt develops in a variety of guises, ranging from a plethora of complex chromatic sequences to the contemplative fugal section that begins the second half of the work. Towards the end, the theme rings out as a series of majestic fortissimo chords, which again might have brought the piece to a perhaps too obvious close had not Liszt then unexpectedly produced a new, quietly rapt chromatic harmonization of the theme—offering a glimpse of mystical revelation in the midst of celebratory splendour.

Recordings

The Liszt Sonata is undoubtedly one of the peaks of the repertoire, and recordings are suitably copious, but when an artist of Hamelin’s virtuoso pedigree wishes to tackle it no excuse need be made for an additional version. This is a major Liszt ...» More

Leslie Howard’s recordings of Liszt’s complete piano music, on 99 CDs, is one of the monumental achievements in the history of recorded music. Remarkable as much for its musicological research and scholarly rigour as for Howard’s Herculean piano p ...» More

Details

The old Kapellmeister from Eisenach was the first to use his name as the basis of a musical theme, and a great many of his later admirers have found his example irresistible. The theme itself (B flat–A–C–B natural) has an appealing symmetry which made it useful alike to Schumann, Liszt, Brahms, Reger and Webern, to name but a few. Liszt’s great Fantasy and Fugue is as much a pioneering product of the then avant-garde as it is a homage to Bach, and the intense chromaticism frequently makes us lose all sight of tonality, although the work basically revolves around G minor and B flat major. As is well known, the piece was originally composed for the organ, probably based on one of Liszt’s own improvisations. But there is nothing haphazard about the final form of the work, and the Fugue contains a good many contrapuntal and harmonic subtleties. The might of the piece’s dramatic argument has always kept it among Liszt’s most popular works, even if more in the organ world than that of the piano. The original version for organ (entitled Präludium und Fuge) dates from 1856 and was arranged for piano in 1870. In 1871 Liszt issued revised versions for both instruments under the present title.